The present invention relates generally to enclosures for plural modular objects, such as computer disk drives or other data storage modules, that produce rotational vibration. More particularly, the present invention concerns a stabilization or dampening mechanism that can be coupled to an enclosure for data storage modules to limit undesired effects of rotational vibration caused by high speed computer disk drives.
Data storage equipment components typically comprise plural data storage modules that slidably dock within a module enclosure. Examples of such enclosures are shown in the following two patents, U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,361 to Anderson et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,278 to Tanzer et al., each of which is incorporated herein by reference. Each of those patents disclose examples of a representative removable module enclosure system, also referred to as a disk-drive chassis or disk-drive enclosure.
A typical data storage module will include many (e.g. 15) disk drives, and each drive includes an internal drive mechanism and a drive platter that spins at high speeds during operation. Typical applications for data storage modules include data centers that have one or more servers and plural removable module enclosures. As shown in the incorporated references, there are many known data storage module enclosures, but none deal effectively with the problem of the undesired effects of rotational vibration caused by high speed computer disk drives.
Conventional drive platters spin at speeds of greater than 7200 rpm creating gyroscopic forces that result in rotational vibration. That rotational vibration causes undesired effects on the operation of the disk drives themselves. Those undesired effects include slight vibrations in the read/write arm of the disk drive in the same plane as the drive platters, which in turn cause undesired read/write errors in the data collection, thereby reducing performance. Conventional proposals have been somewhat effective to reduce external vibrations but have not been as effective in limiting or dampening the above-described rotational vibrations that are created internally within the platters.
The invention may be thought of as a stabilization mechanism that limits rotational vibration in a module enclosure containing plural objects, such as computer disk drives, that produce rotational vibration about a rotational axis. Alternatively, the invention may be thought of as a dampening mechanism. In either case, the invention includes a stabilizer (or dampening) structure coupled to an outer surface of the module enclosure and constructed to transmit a force toward the module enclosure that is effective to stabilize the module enclosure and the disk drive. The stabilization mechanism may be formed as plural, such as first and second, spring-loaded contacts that apply a constant force to the module enclosure and disk drive. The first spring-loaded contact is positioned adjacent that section of the disk drive containing the drive mechanism and the second spring-loaded contact is positioned adjacent that section of the disk drive containing the drive platter. The second spring-loaded contact transmits a force that is greater than the force transmitted by the first spring-loaded contact. The force transmitted by the second spring-loaded contact is in the range of about 12-17 pounds, and the force transmitted by the first spring-loaded contact is in the range of about 3-7 pounds.